Abstract: In order to grasp the nonlinear response characteristics of soil pressure transducer in high-modulus soil, based on the interaction of model of transducer with soil, the reasonable modulus ratio of transducer and soil medium was studied with FEM. And the main factors about nonlinear response of transducer was studied by monomer transducer calibration test and transducer calibration in graded broken stone medium. Based on the results of FEM and calibration test, some conclusions are drawn as follows. The modulus of domestic mainstream transducer is too low to satisfy the reasonable modulus ratio at present when used in high-modulus soil meadium, which leads to the significant nonlinear characteristics of calibration test curve. The monomer test curve is highly linear and the modulus of transducer is stable, which shows that the nonlinear characteristics of calibration test curve is mainly caused by the soil modulus’s change. The test precision can be significantly increased by calibrating the transducer in the same state soil as field test and correcting the calibration results nonlinearly.

Key words: soil pressure transducer, matching error, high-modulus soil, nonlinear response, correction method.